Both those choices are intertwined with the origins of the parade, because both were dear to the heart of Nancy Duffy, the veteran Channel 9 journalist who - in the early days - brought the event together. More than seven years ago, after her death in 2006, I wrote the following column to explain how the parade got started.

Considering the selections this year for grand marshal, the moment seems right for bringing that column back:

FOUNDER OF ST. PAT'S PARADE NEVER PARADED HER EGO
The Post-Standard
Friday, Dec. 29, 2006

Richard Walsh, a Syracuse police captain, is a longtime member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He first heard of the idea for a local St.Patrick's parade in 1982, during the old Irish Festival at the New York State Fairgrounds. Nancy Duffy, he recalls, was one of many people standing in a circle beneath an outdoor tent.

She said it was time for the Irish to throw a parade for everyone in Syracuse.

Immediately, Walsh said, others tried shooting holes in the idea: It wouldn't work. It would be too hard to put together. They'd never reach agreement on the right place or the right date.

Duffy refused to budge. "She didn't want to hear any opinions to the contrary," Walsh said. Duffy said the parade would need to be downtown on a Saturday, because the mission would be involving the larger community.

"She already had it in her head how it was going to be," Walsh said.

Duffy was buried Thursday. She died Dec. 22 after a long illness. She will be remembered, certainly, as a passionate journalist for WSYR-TV (Channel 9).

The parade is her civic monument. It offers a blueprint for getting things done in Syracuse, where the success of the parade is a vivid contrast to the maddening Upstate tendency to smother fine ideas before they get a chance to work.

"She understood that a lot of good can be done if you're willing to give someone else the credit," said Joe O'Hara, executive director of P.E.A.C.E. Inc. and an early parade volunteer. In the mid-1990s, Duffy persuaded O'Hara to do that job, at least for a while. O'Hara said he was reluctant, but Duffy made an offer that was hard to refuse:

"She told me she'd do all the work," O'Hara said. All she needed was someone else to be the public face of the parade.

If you have moved to Syracuse in the last 10 or 15 years, you probably can't imagine this town without the St.Patrick's Parade. The event has become a green and festive civic holiday. In the snowiest big city in the United States, it provides symbolic passage from winter into the hope of spring.

Yet it did not exist until 1983. In the early 1980s, the food and beverage director at the Hotel Syracuse was John Farrell, a native of Ireland and an early ally of Duffy's. He remembers sitting with her at a table in the hotel while she poured out a vision for the parade as it still operates today.

"In the beginning, a lot of people said, 'Nahhh!'" recalled Farrell, who put contemptuous emphasis on that final sound.

His memory of Duffy matches that of Richard Walsh: She never wavered in understanding what the parade should be. She knew that it had to be on South Salina Street, and she knew it had to climax at the grand hotel.

Beyond all else, Duffy's friends recall her shrewd, self-effacing way of handling potential opposition. "There are a lot of divisions among the Irish in Syracuse," O'Hara said. Plenty of people thought any St. Patrick's parade ought to be based on Tipperary Hill.

"Sure, that's where they wanted it originally, but Nancy knew it had to be for the entire city of Syracuse, not just one neighborhood," said Van Sterio, then-director of catering at the Hotel Syracuse. "It had to be downtown."

Duffy smoothed out most conflicts before they had a chance to happen. As a gesture of respect to the Irish community, many parade meetings were held on Tipp Hill. Still, carping continued about who should participate and how much the organizers could afford to spend.

"At that point, when there were too many opinions, she stopped holding committee meetings," recalled Sheila Shattuck, a close friend of Duffy's and another parade founder. "Then it became, 'We're going to do this by fiat.'"

Even so, Shattuck said, Duffy remained careful to give committee members the public credit.

The result was a parade that succeeded as if it had been around for a century. "My God," Sterio said. "A 3-and-a-half-hour parade? In Syracuse? Are you kidding?"

As it grew, as it became one of the biggest attractions in the region, Duffy intentionally avoided the spotlight.

"She didn't do it for herself," said Kathleen Kelly, director of Project Children. With the late Tom Higgins, former chairman of Merchants National Bank and Trust Co., Kelly was one of the parade's first grand marshals. She soon realized that Duffy's interest was in results, not personal attention.

Duffy was willing to sacrifice credit to soothe larger and needier egos. She understood that you will inevitably face of pockets of resistance to visionary change. But she respected the history and traditions of Syracuse, and she was adept at the kind of sure-handed juggling that could ease multiple fears and still create a fine result.

More than anything, say Duffy's friends, she was always moving forward. Not long ago, Kelly spoke with her old friend for the last time. Duffy was clearly failing, in need of constant care, but the conversation swerved away from Duffy's illness.

Instead, Kelly said, they talked about the next parade.

Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Post-Standard. His columns appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call him at 470-6015 or e-mail him at skirst@syracuse.com or visit his blog and forum at www.syracuse.com/kirst, write to him in care of The Post-Standard, Clinton Square, Syracuse 13221, or send him a message on Facebook or Twitter.